Interviewing Shona Kinsella

Helloooo!!

A few weeks ago I reviewed Ashael Rising by Shona Kinsella a really enjoyable start to a new epic fantasy series where a society that is non-technical encounters an evil, malignant and powerful enemy. A classic tale of good heroes taking on the villains but combined with Kinsella’s trademark lyrical prose. Shona very kindly agreed to answer a few questions about his book and what else we can look forward to in the future.

How do you like to Booktempting Ashael Rising?

I like to talk about how Ashael Rising is ultimately a story of hope. It’s about fighting to preserve something beautiful. It’s about the relationships that we have with each other, with our gods and with our land, and how those relationships enrich us and make us more than we are on our own.

We get a tale of two very different societies clashing? Was this something you wanted to explore?

I honestly didn’t have much of a plan when I started writing. I knew that I wanted to write about a society that lived in balance with each other and with the world. And then the antagonists became sort of the opposite of that – a society of parasites, basically, taking everything until they’ve exhausted all natural resources and then just moving on to the next place and doing the same thing all over again, people who are completely out of balance. The tension between those two positions feels really relevant in today’s climate.

In writing the first volume of an epic series how much about the plot and world do you know straight away and how much evolves with the writing?

Pretty much everything evolved in the writing, for me. I’m a total pantser so I started writing Ashael Rising with nothing but one image and a vague notion of the kind of society I wanted to write about. By the time I had finished the first book, I had a general idea of the rest of the story, but only the big beats. All of the detail, the process of getting the characters from A to B, that’s all still figured out as I go along.

What was the journey for you from moving from an Unbound publication to Kristell Ink?

Unbound was the first publisher to ever take a chance on my work and I’ll always be really grateful to them for that, but ultimately it wasn’t the right home for Ashael. Luckily, Sammy HK Smith at Kristell Ink loved the books and really understood what I was trying to do with them. Having someone with that passion and commitment to the work is the best thing an author can ask for and I’m incredibly lucky to have found them.

What three words describe the next instalment? 

Tense, fiery, heart-breaking. Sorry...

What else can we look forward from you in the future and where can we find out more?

I’m currently working on a reimagining of an old Scottish myth about Winter and Spring and the deities which control the seasons. I’m really excited about it, it’s probably the most Scottish thing I’ve written so far. Before that, Ashael Falling will be coming soon from Kristell Ink, followed by Ashael Soaring, the final instalment in the trilogy. So lots to look forward to! You can always see updates on my website www.shonakinsella.com or on Twitter (@shona_kinsella) or Facebook (@ShonaKinsellaAuthor)

What great books have you been reading lately? 

So many! The Black Coast by Mike Brooks, Ocean of Stars by John Dodd, The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, Together We Burn by Isabel Ibanez, Sundial by Catriona Ward, The Entropy of Loss by Stewart Hotston are all superb.